Feed-water heater



O. GNTHER man WATER HEATER- Filed Feb. e. 1923 5f/W7@ N THE@ INVENTOR' `:"-f/ S A TTORNEY.'

Patented Apr. 6, 1926.

OTTO GNTHER, OF ESSLINGEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR T THE SUPERHEATER COM- PANY, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION 0F DELAWARE.

ein.

FEED-WATER HEATER.

Application led February 9, 1923. Serial No. 618,026.

kTo all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, O'rro GNTHER, residing at Esslingen,llurttemberg, Germany, a citizen of Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements Relating to Feed-Water Heaters, of which the following is a specification.

F eedwater'heaters, such as thosefor locomotives which are exposed to all sorts of weather, are often damaged by frost, largely owing to the fact that the usual inlet and outlet cocks favour such freezing, and that the means now in use for draining oiflthe water and allowing the air to escape'from the horizontally arranged feedwater tubes are very inadequate, the low head of water lbeing insulficient to overcome the resistance to flow in the horizontal tubes. The known arrangements for draining under pressure of steam or air are too complicated and require too much attentionfromthe attendants.

` The object of my invention is to remove Y these disadvantages.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, showing one embodiment thereof. A

As shown in the drawings, in order to pre vent the freezing of the cocks, the cock and head for the feed water heater are made as 0 an unitary structure so that the cock is heated by conduction from the head, this preferably being accomplished by casting the cock integral with the head.

Fig. 1 is an end view of a head for a feed waterk heater, the cover of the heater being omitted and the cock shown in longitudinal central section, Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is a detail section through the valve also taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1 but showing the valve plug in draining position. The feed water heater 10 is provided with a tube sheet 11 in which the ends of the water tubes 12 are secured; the tube sheet 1l being held in place by the r head A and a lagging cover 14 being provided to encase the entire heater.

In the form shown in the drawing, the casing 1 of the combined draining and lilling cock is formed integral with the head A and is provided with the branches la, 1b and 1 cored out to provide the outlet passage 6, the inlet passage 3 and the draining passage 73 respectively. A drain pipe 7 is connected with the branch 1c and the branches la and 1b are flanged to provide means for connecting the usual inlet and outlet pipes thereto. y

The central part of the casing 1 is enlarged and bored out to receive a bushing or shell S, which is provided with the ports a, b, c, cl and e,- said shell being inserted within the casing to form a press lit therewith. The head A is provided with a conduit 5 which communicates with the upper tubes of the heater and also with a conduit or passage Ll which leads the feed waterl tothe lower tubes. The shell S when pressed into the casing has its ports arranged in valignment with the various conduits as follows; port a with conduit 3, port 7) with conduit Ll, port c with conduit 5, port d with conduit 6 and port c with conduit 7.

The valve plug 2 is divided by a web 2a into a pair of passages 21 and 8 which are adapted to furnish communication between the various portsand conduits in the following manner. When the plug 2 is set `in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, it will be seen that the feed water passing through the heater will pass from the inlet conduit 3 through port c passage 2b and port to the conduita'and thence to the lowerwvater tubes. After the water circulates through the heater it passes through conduit 5, port c, valve passage S, and port d to the passage 6. lhen it is desired to cut Vthe supply of feed water off from the heater, the valve plug 2 is turned to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, in which position the web 2a cuts off the passage of the water to the ports c, b and e, and the passage 8 permits the water to flow from the conduit 3 directly to the conduit 6.

The draining position of the plug 2 is shown in Fig. 3, in which position it will be noted the passage 2b establishes communication between both of the ports c and b leading to the top and bottom conduits 5 and 4t respectively, with the port e leading to the drain pipe 7, while the passage 8 establishes communication between the ports al, a, and e.

The cock described has the following advanta-ges:-

The combination of the body of the cock with the cover of the heater in one piece ensures that these parts are always at about the same temperature whether the feed is proceeding through the feedwater heater or directly.

Secondly, the cock in the position shown in Fig. 3 allows the water to run out ot the heater and at the same time admits air by way of the duet 5 to the top part ot' the feed water tubes. All the drainage pat-hs are ot ample cross section so that the aerating o' all the spaces is fully etteeted, bot-h water connections are-drained together the draining and aerating being etteeted by means 0f one Coeli with one n'ianipulation.

lVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. In a feed water heater a unitaryv strueture comprising a head and a valve easing, said head being provided with an inlet passage communicating with the lower portion of the heater and an outlet passage eomn'mnieating with the upper portion of the heater, said valve easing being' provided with a plurality of passages, for the inlet, the outlet, and the draining of the feed water to and from said heater, a valve plug rotatably mounted in said valve easing and having a pair ot passages which in one position ot said valve plug permit the passage ol the feed water through said inletrv and outlet passages lo and -from said heater respectively and whieh in another position establish communication between said draining passage and all of the ren'iaining passages ot said head and valve easing.

2. ln a feed water heater a unitary struetiure comprising a head and a valve easing, said head being provided with an inlet passage Communicating with the lower port-ion of the heater and an outlet passage communicating with the upper portion of the heater, said valve easing being provided with a plurality of passages, for the inlet, the outlet, andthe draining ofthe toed water lo and trom said heater, a shell secured within said easing and provided with a plu alil v ot ports respectively aligned with said passages, a valve plug retatablvv mounted in said shell and having a pair ot passages which in one position ot said valve plug communicate with predetermined ports ol' said shell to permit the passage ot the t'eed water through said inlet and outlet passages lo and from said heater and which in another position communicate with all ot: the other ports et said shell to establish Connnunieation between said draining passage and all ot the remaining passages ot said head and valve easing.

3. ln a header unit tor a teed water heater, a member adapted to be secured lo a wall Ot said heater, means forming passages in said member in eomnumieation with the upper and lower portions ot said heater. respectively, a valve housing formed in said member and in eomnninieation with said passages, inlet, outlet and drain passages in said member Communieating with said valve housing, a` valve eoutrolling said passages and adapted, in one position. to establish communication between the inlety and the lower portion ot the heater and between the outlet and the upper portion ot the heater: in a second position. to establish direct eommunieation trom the inlet lo the outletY and between the heater passages and the drain passage; and in the third position, to es tablish communication between the drain passage and the other passages.

In witness whereof I have signed this speeilieation.

oTTo GNTHER. 

